CEBU CITY, Philippines – With the volunteerism of members of the Japanese community here, the Cebu City government is now able to accommodate 500 students per week for its free Japanese language program.
Mayor Tomas Osmeña said in a Facebook post at 3 p.m. today that they will have to finish the remaining backlog of program applicants before they will proceed to open new classes for the other interested Cebuanos.
At least 5, 000 individuals signed up for the city’s free Japanese classes.
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Osmeña said that as of today, March 26, they have so far accommodated more than half of the total number of registrants.
“Apologies for those who have had to wait, when I first made the post we only had one instructor and I expected maybe 200 people to be interested. More than 5,000 people showed up to register,” said the mayor’s FB post.
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But Osmeña said he is happy to announce that several members of the Japenese community in Cebu have volunteered as class instructors to address the high demand for Japanese language classes.
“To accommodate everyone, many members of the Japanese community in Cebu have generously volunteered their time as additional instructors. Because of them, we can now accommodate 500 people per week,” Osmeña said.
“As soon as the backlog is finished, we will announce new schedules for everyone else who’s interested. There will be an online course as well. This is a free service from the library and there is no need to be from Cebu City,” he added.